Wire feeding means



Nov. 26, 1963 J. a. WRIGHT ETAL 3,112,056

WIRE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed June 15, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 i J INVENTORS if 17 103 7010/ a. mus/1r,

102 101 JAMES M. (IMF/IV e GEORGE M mw/v Nov. 1963 J. G. WRIGHT ETAL 3,112,056

WIRE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed J 5, 1956 4 Shgets-Sheet 2 INVENTORJ JOHN G. Wfi/GWI', JAMES M. CIMFIN 4' Nov. 26, 1963 J. G. WRIGHT ETAL 3,112,056

WIRE FEEDING MEANS Original Filed June 15, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 -zaa INVENTORS JOHN G. WRIGHT,

TIMES M. CHlF/IY 6 BY 660065 41. WV/WV United States Patent 3,112,056 WIRE FEEDING MEANS John G. Wright, James M. Chafin, and George M. Wynn, Atlanta, Ga, assignors to The Auto-Solar Qompany, a corporation of Georgia Griginal application .lune 15, 1956, Ser. No. 591,680, new Patent No. 2,944,758, dated July 12, E60. Divided and this application Apr. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 733,222

3 Claims. (Cl. 226-151) This invention relates in general to fastener forming and inserting machines of the type arranged for forming fasteners from a continuous length of wire and inserting the fasteners formed in material to be secured, and more specifically to a machine of this sort arranged to particular advantage for handling relatively heavy wire, and for forming therefrom and inserting relatively heavy fasteners.

For this purpose, the present invention provides an especisdly effective wire feeding means for withdrawing wire from the supply and delivering it to the fastener forming means that incorporates wire gripping blades arranged uniquely to handle the heavy wire. This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 591,689 filed June 15, 1956, now US. Patent No. 2,944,758, issued July 12, 1960.

These and other features of the present invention are described in detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a fastener forming and inserting machine arranged in accordance with the present invent-ion;

FIG. 2 is a generally corresponding right side elevation; a

FIG. 3 is a detail of the operating head showing the arrangement of the fastener forming knife assembly as disposed at fastener forming position;

PEG. 4 is a corresponding detail showing the fastener forming knife assembly at fastener inserting position;

FIG. 5 is a sectional detail taken substantially on the line 5-5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a detail illustrating the arrangement of the wire feeding means according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a corresponding detail in which the wire feed blocks are shown in section; and

PEG. 8 is a sectional detail taken substantially on the line 8-8 in FIG. 7.

The fastener forming and inserting machine shown in the drawings, for purposes of illustration, is a machine arranged especially for nailing in wood working operations and the like and follows generally the form of the machine disclosed for this purpose in US. Patent No. 2,636,168, but is particularly adapted according to the present invention, as noted above, for handling relatively heavy wire of the order of 13 gauge and for forming therefrom and inserting fasteners in a length of as much as 2% inches.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the nailing machine shown comprises generally a frame structure 16 arranged with a base portion '11 adapted to support the machine on a floor or similar surface, a column portion 12 on which a work table structure 13 is carried in the manner disclosed by the above noted prior US. Patent No. 2,636,168, and an upper arm portion 14 on which an operating head is mounted at 15 above the work table structure 13, together with an operating shaft 16 therefor. Means ltltl is arranged at the base portion 11 according to the present invention for dispensing wire W from a coiled supply S so that it may be delivered effectively to a fastener forming and inserting knife assembly 2% carried by the operating head 15 by the action of wire feeding means also arranged in the operating Patented Nov. 25, 1963 head as indicated generally at 3%. The machine is operated from a foot pedal 17 at the frame structure base portion 11 connected through a suitable linkage (not shown), as in the previously noted US. Patent No. 2,636,168, to control a clutch mechanism at 18 on the operating shaft to so that a cycle of operation is initiated by each depression of the foot pedal 17.

The wire dispensing means 1% provided by the present invention comprises a vertical spindle 191 attached at its lower end to the frame structure base portion M by means of a bracket arm W2. This vertical spindle Jill is shouldered intermediate its length to early a turntable 1% for supporting the supply of coiled wire 8 concentrically with respect to the spindle Mill, and has a guide member res fixed at its upper extending end for directing the withdrawal of wire W from the inside windings of the coiled supply S.

The supply of coiled wire S is arranged according to the present invention in a packaging carton having both side panels thereof formed with openings 1&6 and lll"), that are substantially concentric with the axis of the wire supply S contained therein, and that are propertioned with a diameter not greater than the inner diameter of the wire supply S. The previously mentioned turntable Flt-3 is in turn formed at its top face with a circular boss portion 1% proportioned in diameter for a positioning fit within one of the carton side panel openings res, so as to locate the coiled wire supply S more or less concentrically with respect to the spindle lll l, with the other carton side panel opening N7 atfording clearance for withdrawal of the Wire W through the guide member 104- from the inside windings of the coiled supply S.

Initially, the coiled wire supply S may be disposed in t to packaging carton ltl S with several binding ties (not shown) arran ed thereon for maintaining the coil structure in proper order during shipment and storage. Also, the packaging carton 1% may initially have complete side panels with the openings 1% and Ill? therein defined by weakened separation lines, so that they may be opened readily while still allowing the packaging carton 1&5 to be provided initially as a completely closed container for the coiled wire supply S. With this arrangement, all that is necessary to install a coiled wire supply S on the machine is to open the side panels of the packaging carton 1G5, cut the binding ties on the coiled supply S, fit the packaging carton on the turntable 163 at the side panel opening 1%, and train the leading inner end of the wire W through the guide member 104 from the coiled supply S.

After the coiled supply S has been exhausted, the empty packaging carton 1% may be discarded and replaced easily and quickly by a new wire supply S, which affords a substantial operating advantage in handling a heavy wire supply that necessarily becomes exhausted and must be replaced more frequently than is the case with usual wire sizes employed in fastener forming operations of this sort. In addition, the ease with which a new wire supply S may be installed according to the present invention also provides a decided improvement otherwise over the various types of reel mountings that have heretofore been more or less conventional.

It may also be noted that while the top side panel opening 197 in the packaging carton 105 should be proportioned in a diameter approaching the inner diameter of the coiled wire supply S so as to allow adequate clearance for withdrawal of the wire W therethrough, the bottom side panel opening 106 is preferably more restricted in diameter so as to allow for adequate support of the wire supply S on a turntable 103 of reasonable dimensions that may be mounted readily for stable operation on the spindle 161.

Provision for training the wire W from the guide memher 104 of the dispensing means 100 to the fastener forming knife assembly 200 in the operating head 15 is made by means of a wire guide tube 109 carried on the frame structure column portion 12 at 110. This wire guide tube 109 is fitted at its entrance end with a length of flexible wire tubing 111 to provide for receiving the wire W readily therein, and is angled toward its discharge end for allowing the wire W to be further trained through a shock absorber unit 112 before being delivered to the fastener forming knife assembly 200 by the wire feed means 300.

The fastener forming knife assembly 200, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, is of the type disclosed in the above noted US. Patent No. 2,636,168, and comprises a stationary blade member 201 and a matched movable blade member 202 assembled therewith for pivoting movement between fastener forming and fastener inserting positions, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. The movable blade member 202 is formed with an extending cam arm portion 203 through which the pivoting movement thereof from fastener forming to fastener inserting position is actuated by a plunger member 204 reciprocated from a crank mechanism 205 carried at the forward end of the operating shaft 16 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Each downward stroke of the plunger member 204 moves it initially into contact with the cam arm portion 203 for effecting the shift of the movable blade member 202 to fastener inserting position so that a driving tip 206 carried at the lower end of the plunger member 204 may drive a fastener formed by the knife assembly 200 into the material to be secured.

During the shift of the movable blade member 202 to fastener inserting position, the cam arm portion 203 is held in operating relation with respect to the plunger member 204 by the following action of a trip lever 207 pivoted on the operating head 15 and yieldably biased for following the motion of the cam arm portion 203 to fastener inserting position and for returning the blade memher 202 to fastener forming position. This trip lever 207 is fixed on a pivot shaft 203 to extend oppositely with respect to the cam arm portion 203 and to pivot so that the bias thereof is exerted on the cam portion 203 through a follower roll 209 at its extending end in a direction angled greater than 90 with respect to its pivoted extending length, thereby providing the greatest mechanical advantage of the cam arm portion 203 on the trip lever 207 during the initial portion of its shifting movement from fastener forming to fastener inserting postion so as to facilitate the initial shifting action of the plunger member 204 on the cam arm portion 203.

The bias on the trip lever 207 is provided by means of a torsion spring 210 disposed about the pivot shaft 208 with one end fixed at an anchor pin 211 carried at the back of the operating head 15 and the other end secured at an anchor pin 212 carried by a manipulating lever 213 that is also fixed on the pivot shaft 208 adjacent the end thereof opposite the end at which the trip lever 207 is fixed, and that provides for manually displacing the trip lever 207 from the cam arm portion 203 whenever necessary in adjusting the knife assembly 200 or relieving a jammed condition therein. In this connection, it should also be noted that the arrangement of the trip lever 207 eliminates entirely the necessity for any shear pin or release motion such as is usually provided to guard against damage to the knife assembly 200 upon jamming. iamming of the knife assembly 200 almost always occurs through breaking of the plunger driving tip 206 in the knife assembly 200 at fastener inserting position so that the movable blade 202 is locked at this position and cannot be returned to fastener forming position upon withdrawal of the plunger member 204. When this happens, the trip lever 207 simply remains in its shifted position with the cam arm portion 203 until the jammed condition is relieved.

The wire feeding means 300 provided according to the present invention for delivering the wire W from the dispensing means 100 to the knife assembly 200 for fastener forming operations is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings. This wire feeding means 300 comprises a stationary block member 301 and a movable block member 302 arranged in the operating head 15 for sliding reoiprocable movement to and from the stationary block member 301 by means of a pivoted lever 303 biased at for actuation through a plunger element 305 from a follower arm structure 305 at a cam 307 carried on the operating shaft 15 (see FIG. 2), all as disclosed more in detail in the above noted U.S. Patent No. 2,636,168.

Each of the block members 301 and 302 are formed with wire passageways 308 and 309 extending therein in alignment with the reciprocable movement of the movblock member 302, and each of the block members and 302 are recessed as at 310 and 311 transversely of the passageways 308 and 309 for receiving wire gripping blades 312 and 313 therein. The gripping blades 312 and 313 are rectangular and of substantial thickness with square edges. The block member recesses 310 and 311 each have a groove 314 and 315 formed therein at the side remote from the passageways 308 and 309, which are formed in a width greater than the thickness of the wire gripping blades 312 and 313 and have a bottom that is semicircular in cross section for seating a remote edge portion of the blades 312 and 313 to shift pivotally while maintaining these blades 312 and 313 with an inclined disposition toward the passageways 30S and 309 in the direction of wire feeding when the blade edges adjacent the passageways 30-8 and 309 are in contact with wire W trained therethrough.

The block member recesses 310 and 311 are otherwise shaped to provide substantial clearance about the gripping blades 312 and 313, and are further formed to intersect the passageways 308 and 309 so as to expose the wire W for gripping by the blades 312 and 313. Each of the blades 312 and 313 has the adjacent edge thereof biased in gripping contact with the wire W by means of plungers 320 and 321 slidably arranged to bear against the underside of the blades 312 and 313 adjacent the gripping edge portion thereof from bores 322 and 323 arranged in the lower portion of the block members 301 and 302 to open in the recesses 310 and 311. The plungers 320 and 321 are bottomed within the bores 322 and 323 on compression springs 324- and 325 which are confined therein by pins 326 and 327 to exert the previously noted bias on the wire gripping edges of the blades 312 and 313.

By this arrangement, the gripping blades 312 and 313 are disposed for allowing wire movement through the block member passageways 308 and 309 only in the direction of wire feeding, so that the stationary block member 301 serves to hold the wire W being fed against retraction, while the movable blade member 302 reciprocates to advance a desired length of the wire W to the fastener forming operation on each stroke away from the stationary block member 301, and adjustment of the stroke of the movable block member 302 allows selection of the length of fastener to be formed, as is usual in wire feeding means of this sort.

The wire gripping blade members 312 and 313 provided according to the present invention afford exceptional advantages in this type of wire feeding means, particularly when heavy wire W is being handled as is contemplated in the present case. In the first place, the relatively thick rectangular gripping blades 312 and 313 are especially strong and serviceable. In addition, and even more importantly, this form of gripping blade 312 and 313 is adapted to have all of its side edges serve in turn as wire gripping edges, so that it is only necessary to rearrange the disposition of the blade members 312 and 313 in the block member recesses 310 and 311 to present a new side edge thereof for gripping contact with the wire W whenever an edge previously in use has become worn beyond effective gripping action.

able

To facilitate this redisposition of the blades 312 and 313, each of the block members are fitted at the recesses 310 and 31d therein with removable cover plates 3'28 and 3229 allowing ready access to the blades 312 and 313. Upon removal of these cover plates 328 and 329 the blade members 312 and 313 may be easily withdrawn from the block member recesses 3 and 311 and rotated 180, or turned over, or turned sidewise if, as is preferable, the rectangular blades 312 and 313 are formed square, for replacement to present a fresh gripping edge at the wire W, so as to afford eight possible wire gripping edges for use on the blades 312 and 313. It may also be noted that the block member recesses 310 and 31 1 are preferably arranged as illustrated in PEG. 8 so that the gripping blades 312 and 313 are carried therein with the center of the wire gripping edge thereof spaced sidewise with respect to the axis of the wire passageways 308 and 309 to prevent the wear on one gripping edge at a side :face of the blades 31?. and 313 from having any tendency to foul or otherwise affect the other edge of this side face for subsequent use as a wire gripping edge.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Wire feeding means comprising a stationary block member and a movable block member arranged for sliding reciprocable movement to and from said stationary block member, each of said block members having a passageway therein for said wire and carrying a grip pin-g blade at said passageway for allowing wire movement therethrough only in the direction of wire feeding, said gripping blades being rectangular and of substantial thickness with opposed square edges that are identically formed, being carried by said block members transversely in relation to said wire passageways, being inclined toward said passageways in the direction of wire feeding with one of said identically formed square edges remotely confined for pivotal shifting and the opposed identically formed square edge thereof biased for contact with wire trained through said passageways, and being carried by said blocks members with the center of said wire contacting square edge spaced sidewise of the axis of said wire passageways.

2. Wire feeding means comprising a stationary block member and a movable block member arranged for sliding reciprocable movement to and from said stationary block member, each of said block members having a passageway therein for said wire and being recessed transversely of said passageway for receiving a wire gripping blade, said gripping blade being rectangular and of substantial thickness with opposed square edges that are identically formed, said block member recess having a groove formed at the side thereof remote from said passageway in a width greater than the thickness of said blade and with a bottom of semi-circular cross section for seating one of said identically formed square edges of said blade remotely to shift pivotally while maintaining said blade with an inclined disposition toward said passageway in the direction of wire feeding when the other identically formed square blade edge adjacent said passageway is in contact with wire trained therethrough, and means carried by said block member for biasing the adjacent blade edge in contact with said wire.

3. Wire feeding means as defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that each of said block members is further fitted at the recess therein with a removable cover plate allowing access to said gripping blade for reversal to present a fresh edge thereof for gripping contact with said wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,042,737 Shakespeare June 2, 1936 2,208,805 Russell et al July 23, 1940 2,291,065 Walker July 28, 1942 2,805,581 Daly Sept. 10, 1957 

1. WIRE FEEDING MEANS COMPRISING A STATIONARY BLOCK MEMBER AND A MOVABLE BLOCK MEMBER ARRANGED FOR SLIDING RECIPROCABLE MOVEMENT TO AND FROM SAID STATIONARY BLOCK MEMBER, EACH OF SAID BLOCK MEMBERS HAVING A PASSAGEWAY THEREIN FOR SAID WIRE AND CARRYING A GRIPPING BLADE AT SAID PASSAGEWAY FOR ALLOWING WIRE MOVEMENT THERETHROUGH ONLY IN THE DIRECTION OF WIRE FEEDING, SAID GRIPPING BLADES BEING RECTANGULAR AND OF SUBSTANTIAL THICKNESS WITH OPPOSED SQUARE EDGES THAT ARE IDENTICALLY FORMED, BEING CARRIED BY SAID BLOCK MEMBERS TRANSVERSELY IN RELATION TO SAID WIRE PASSAGEWAYS, BEING INCLINED TOWARD SAID PASSAGEWAYS IN THE DIRECTION OF WIRE FEEDING WITH ONE OF SAID IDENTICALLY FORMED SQUARE EDGES REMOTELY CONFINED FOR PIVOTAL SHIFTING AND THE OPPOSED IDENTICALLY FORMED SQUARE EDGE THEREOF BIASED FOR CONTACT WITH WIRE TRAINED THROUGH SAID PASSAGEWAYS, AND BEING CARRIED BY SAID BLOCKS MEMBERS WITH THE CENTER OF SAID WIRE CONTACTING SQUARE EDGE SPACED SIDEWISE OF THE AXIS OF SAID WIRE PASSAGEWAYS. 